Was I being pathetic?

[Pedal Castro]

Went to the pub for a post ride drink with Mrs PC and found out you need to wear a mask to walk 3m to a table before you can take it off!

Even though I had one in the car parked 20m away I said, "oh, we'll go somewhere else then" and drove back home. Mrs PC still isn't talking to me... 

[Pickled Onion]

Is there a vote option for this topic? 

[Peter]

Possibly, if there were people who knew you in the pub - they might wonder about you.  But you are free to make that choice.  I don't think the pub is similarly unfettered with current regulations.

Edit:  actually, I didn't think this through (one of the reasons I'm not a High Court Judge).  Unless people in the pub knew you had a mask in your car, then your "reputation" is safe - except from your wife!  Still true about the pub's position, though.

[Davef]

It would have made it an expensive pint if you got a £200 fine. More so for the pub if they ended up paying £10,000. Choose a cheaper crime, like running red lights.

[Sergeant Pluck]

Tricky one. Law says mask unless seated or to drink. Man says he doesn’t want to wear one at all...

But anyway, your wife’s response to it all might be more to do with the “somewhere else” / “home” bit 

[Polar Bear]

Yes.  Sorry but it's the case.

The mask is to protect others.  If we are going to get through the pandemic we all have a responsibility to behave responsibly imo.

[Hot Flatus]

Sometimes the mask wearing doesnt make sense, but we cant start making exceptions for ourselves on the basis of what we think is sensible.

[Pedal Castro]

Yes.  Sorry but it's the case.

The mask is to protect others.  If we are going to get through the pandemic we all have a responsibility to behave responsibly imo.

I don't think wearing a mask for 10" then taking it off for an hour or two before putting it back on for another 10" to leave wasn't protecting anybody, so leaving without drinking was the best choice surely?

[citoyen]

It was a massive 20m trek to the car? Well, as long as you had enough provisions to keep you going through such an arduous journey, it would have been worth the effort for the reward of a pint.

Look, if you think it’s a point of principle worth doing yourself out of a pint for, don’t let anyone else tell you you’re pathetic.

[MikeFromLFE]

My son in law is a publican of a pub with two small rooms, and this rule - sorry law - is both a complete PITA for him and his staff, and he is certain that it's losing him even more trade than the curfew.
Neither he nor I can see how wearing a mask for the short walk between the door and the table, or to the bog, is protecting anyone if the mask is off at the table.
Maybe, possibly in a place the size of an average Spoons it might work, but not in many local pubs, cafes etc.

[hellymedic]

One of the advantages of a mask, even for short distances and times, is that it deters folk putting their paws on the face, spreading whatever is on the face to handholds. This has been published.

It IS a pain but people touch their face all the time.

[Polar Bear]

The point of the mask when you are moving about is that you are coming into closer proximity with other patrons, closer than 2m and in an enclosed space.  Patrons are allowed to remove their masks once seated so if you are a spreader you are putting these people at a greater risk than is necessary by not wearing a mask.

However you feel about the law the reasons are there.  We know from the data that indoor transmission is significantly greater than outdoor transmission.   By all means have your point of principle but your principle doesn't override either the evidence or the law.

Early on in the pandemic I was on a shopping mission.  A middle-aged moron coming towards me kept moving across the pavement in my direction as I gave him a wider and wider berth.  "What's the problem?" he said, "You're going to die of something.".  "I choose to live as long as possible thanks." was my reply.

[Karla]

No, not pathetic at all.  The masks were introduced on incredibly weak science, and are a classic case of "we must do something" Sir Humphreyism.  Any supposed science produced in support of them since has been of the order of those stupid pro-helmet compulsion papers that go "If I hit this bike helmet with a hammer , the strain gauge underneath it experiences less strain than if I hit the gauge directly, ergo everyone ought to wear helmets".

You are being a responsible and upstanding citizen by refusing to bow to the pro-panic, anti-scientific mask brigade.  You're also winding up people of Polar Bear's ilk who think that you have zero right to inflict any level risk on them as a function of your existence.  Both of these are good things, so please continue walking out of pubs.

[Beardy]

I believe that the science of mask wearing has moved forward significantly since the outbreak of the pandemic and although no one would be daft enough to claim that they are 100% effective, it has been demonstrated that transmission of disease is greatly reduced if both the infected and the uninfected are wearing masks. So if you are in a public place it makes sense and is good manners to wear a mask.

The effacy of mask wearing while you are moving around a pub is probably suspect, but it will greatly reduce the chance of you coughing something into someone else’s pint so again, it’s just good manners.

Moreover, it is currently law that you wear a mask in certain places and situations, so punishing the publican for enforcing the law is pointless and cutting of your nose to spite your face.

[quixoticgeek]

I'm with Mrs PC.

if you'd left the mask at home, I could be a bit more understanding, but leaving it 20m away in the car.

Ultimately for the 3m to the table, wearing it, not critical. But a) if they say it's ok not to for 3m, what about the people at the table 6m away? 9m? where is the line? Yes there is a certain amount of public health theatre to it. But the reality is, there is strong evidence that wearing a mask helps those around you, and if more people wear them, generally we'll all be better off.

That all being said. IMHO, the risk is too high to be going to an enclosed space like a pub or restaurant in the first place. Sure sitting in the garden is one thing, but inside. Not acceptable, to me, on my accepted level of risk.

I have a selection of masks, and am actually getting quite acclimatised to wearing them. At a physio appointment this week, while wearing a mask, I was doing squats with 55kg, without any noticeable issues with breathing difficulties. For able bodied people, I don't think there are any excuses for not wearing a mask inside. I also think we should aim to be inside as little as possible other than our own homes.

J

[Pedal Castro]

Thanks for all the input, so everyone agrees that not being in the pub at all is definitely the best for all concerned. 

[Karla]

I believe that the science of mask wearing has moved forward significantly since the outbreak of the pandemic and although no one would be daft enough to claim that they are 100% effective, it has been demonstrated that transmission of disease is greatly reduced if both the infected and the uninfected are wearing masks. So if you are in a public place it makes sense and is good manners to wear a mask.

Not really. 

Take a look at this piece in Nature]https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-02801-8#ref-CR4, published a few days ago. 

You either get "Perfect masks worn perfectly prevent x% of particles of y size penetrating" - based on a model of how the author thinks the virus is spread.  This is a direct analogue of "If I hit your helmet with a hammer ... " type speculative/theoretical studies.

You then get https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.05.22.20109231v5]this sort of thing, which restate the logic that caused the WHO to originally call for masks: that countries with cultural norms for mask wearing did better at C19 than did countries where masks weren't habitually worn.  So because East Asia dealt better with C19 than we did, apparently it's due to masks.  What possible confounding factors might there be though?  Hmm, how long have you got ...

If you do want to pay attention to the paper above though, note that they didn't find any correlation between national lockdown policies and C19 performance. 

Then there's this American study also linked from Nature, which found that mask use might have reduced C19 growth in the US by **up to two percentage points per day""!  Woohooo!  Such a large amount!

Meanwhile the virus continues to do whatever it likes, whatever we do about it.  We're shooting ourselves in the feet after already getting slapped in the face.

The effacy of mask wearing while you are moving around a pub is probably suspect, but it will greatly reduce the chance of you coughing something into someone else’s pint so again, it’s just good manners.

Given that argument has nothing whatsoever to do with C19, I trust you were already doing this every time you went into a pub in your life up till now? 

That's the problem though: this silly, evidence-free change in manners is going to stick around in its silly evidence-free way forever.  I hope to be on this planet for fifty to sixty more years, and if I have to wear a stupid muzzle every day for the rest of that time because you decided it was good manners, I'll make sure to come after you in the next life and haunt you. 

In the meantime, please be a good citizen and do whatever you can to uphold the cause of good science and realistic appreciation of risk and responsibility in society, by refusing to wear a mask.  If we're lucky, the spiteful bitter people like will self-combust with rage and the rest of us can get on with life.

[Hot Flatus]

I'm in favour of you wearing a mask in perpetuity.

Nothing to do with covid. Purely for aesthetic reasons.

[rob]

I’m trying to be an upstanding member of the community but mask wearing is starting to piss me off.  I have to ask for everything twice because both me and the person on the other side of the plastic screen are wearing masks.

Half way round a 200k in an empty Starbucks :-

“Double espresso, please”
“Sorry”
“Double espresso”
“Buttered croissant ?”
“Well Ok, but a DOUBLE ESPRESSO as well”

[FifeingEejit]

I've not noticed any increase in needing to state what I want twice, it's still 100% of the time.

[Hot Flatus]

The only aspect of mask-wearing that is beginning to grate is having to listen to the bed-wetting snowflake mask nonces bleating on about why it is such an imposition on them.

[nicknack]

The only aspect of mask-wearing that is beginning to grate is having to listen to the bed-wetting snowflake mask nonces bleating on about why it is such an imposition on them.

[Karla]

I'm in favour of you wearing a mask in perpetuity.

Nothing to do with covid. Purely for aesthetic reasons.

But that would spoil my plan of wearing nothing but a g string 

[rob]

BTW anyone found a good way to stop glasses fogging up.  I find it better if you push the mask  along way up the nose and put glasses on top but it’s not perfect.

[quixoticgeek]

BTW anyone found a good way to stop glasses fogging up.  I find it better if you push the mask  along way up the nose and put glasses on top but it’s not perfect.

Taking my glasses off...

but I only need them to read stuff beyond about 2m away...

J